March 14, 2024 08:43 GMT
Services Acceleration Consistent With Survey Evidence
SPAIN DATA
The Spanish final February HICP print confirmed flash estimates at 2.9% Y/Y (vs 3.5% in Jan) and 0.4% M/M.
- Details of the sub-components, which are not available in the flash release, show that services inflation accelerated to 4.0% Y/Y (vs 3.7% prior). These dynamics are consistent with recent survey evidence, with price components in the PMI and EC survey accelerating in February.
- Core goods inflation was 1.5% Y/Y (vs 2.0% prior).
- Food components moderated in February: Unprocessed foods inflation fell to 4.9% Y/Y (vs 9.0% prior) and processed foods to 5.3% Y/Y (vs 6.1% prior). This was a dynamic widely expected by analysts coming into the flash release.
- Taken together, HICP ex-energy/unprocessed foods decelerated a touch to 3.7% Y/Y (vs 3.8% prior).
- MNI' s inflation breadth metric (the share of components with annual inflation rates above 2%) fell to 61% (vs 65% prior), the lowest since Jan '22. However, Spain's continued services stickiness remains the main concern.
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